


Not a Lot of Money

by Skeli



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect 2 - Fandom, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Fluff, POV Garrus Vakarian, Set during Mass Effect 2, sorry if you're looking for porn, this is rated M just to be safe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-03
Updated: 2018-06-03
Packaged: 2019-05-17 21:11:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14839241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skeli/pseuds/Skeli
Summary: Garrus always thought he was cool under pressure. He was wrong.





	Not a Lot of Money

Garrus didn't know where to put his hands.

He was getting used to that feeling when he spoke with Shepard. She had started to make him nervous, and he had developed a tendency to fidget under her keen gaze. Often times he didn't realize he was doing until he was wringing his hands together and spouting terrible metaphors about guns.

Before her suggestion, he considered himself calm under pressure. Even when confronted with the burden of trying to impress hardened superior officers, he prided himself on the fact that they probably had no clue how tense he was in their presence. That was the kind of anxiety he felt when he first asked join her mission, and during most of their meetings thereafter. That is, until something subtly gave away to friendship rather than the practiced military rapport they'd been keeping up.

He liked to think the poker match after Saren was when things changed for them. He held back most of the jokes and wisecracks that popped into his head during missions to appear more professional, but once the cards were dealt and the ryncol poured, his walls were down.

And she laughed.

Shepard laughed like he'd never seen her laugh. In the moment, he considered her mood a symptom of the alcohol. Not being under enemy fire for once probably helped, too. Even so, that night as he lay in bed he allowed himself to imagine for a moment that she might just think he was funny. 

After that, she dropped the 'Officer Vakarian' and he tossed 'Commander' out the window.

"Shepard."

"Garrus."

He loved that exchange a little more each time it happened. He loved it mostly because it _kept_ happening. Their familiarity was forged in fire and smoke, and it only brought them closer. She trusted him to keep her six, and he trusted her to lead the team to victory. Every time she called him just 'Garrus' and he responded with simply 'Shepard' he felt as if they were securing that bond. It was a small ritual, but it meant a lot to him.

He mourned the loss of it when she died. He wondered every once in a while just how far he would go to hear her say his name one more time, and found he didn't want to know the answer.

She came back, though. If anyone could cheat death it was Shepard. He shouldn't have been too surprised, but the sight of her moving, speaking, breathing... it was too good. He woke up every morning expecting her to be gone again, because the universe just wasn't kind to Garrus Vakarian. 

The time after her death was a road paved with rage and a longing he didn't know the origin of. He wanted to spend some quality time with Shepard, just the two of them at some place an AI wasn't listening. He supposed that was greedy since she was trying very hard to convince the galaxy they were at war and her time was very valuable, not to mention limited. But he had missed her. Badly.

So badly, that he agree to have sex with her without any forethought at all. When Shepard sauntered out of the room, he stared at the door for a solid ten minutes wondering why he had said yes so quickly. He could always back out of the arrangement if he found he didn't really want it. Shepard might be hurt, but she wouldn't pressure him. Shepard was a good person. The best person, maybe even his favorite person. She was certainly his best friend, and sometimes consenting adult slept with their friends and no one had to have a crisis over it.

But there Garrus stood in the battery with his eyes wide, mid-crisis. 

He loved her. Fuck. He loved Commander Jane Shepard.

He never thought of her in a sexual context before, like there was some kind of mental block keeping him from realizing the depth of his own feelings. After admitting to both himself and to her that yes, he would totally be down to bone, there was no going back.

He couldn't un-crisis.

But he could do some research to figure out how not to mess it up. He lost Shepard once and it nearly destroyed him, and now he was going to do everything in his power to stay close to her. Which  meant he needed to watch inter-species porn.

His dad would be so proud.

Garrus didn't browse a lot of _adult_ material, and he definitely wasn't missing anything important. The plot lines were weak, the dialogue was stale, and there was no way Shepard would say a quarter of the things the women in the vids were saying. He felt guilty for even imagining it.

Should he ask Mordin? No, he should not.

"EDI," he said.

"Yes, Officer Vakarian," EDI chimed.

"No one can ever know."

"Of course, Officer Vakarian. I'll scrub the data logs accordingly. Logging you out."

He had time, he figured. If he could plan an assassination on a heavily guarded slave trader with decade old schematics he could figure out how to sleep with the woman he loved. 

She wasn't helping, though. She didn't look worried at all, and every time she popped in for a visit he had a minor heart attack and started to fidget like he'd committed the crime of the century and she was a detective asking some very speculative questions.

Maybe she had experience with turians? In which case, he shouldn't be so apprehensive since she knew what to do, but he couldn't bring himself to ask her. He couldn't even look at her without spiking his own heart rate.

It never hurt to be prepared, in any case, so that's what he did.

And after all that preparation, he still didn't know what to do with his hands.

Shepard was looking up at him, smile crinkling her eyes. Their foreheads were still pressed together. The cabin was dead quiet after she turned off the music. He could hear the intake of her breath when he hesitantly ran one of his hands down her arm.

Her skin was ridiculously soft. He mirrored the action on her other arm just so he could confirm how insanely soft her skin was. How had humans survived so long being so squishy? Amazing.

Shepard curled her fingers into the fabric over his chest, eyes hooded. She tilted her head to the side and let her gaze linger over his mouth.

"Is this the part where I...?"

"Mmm-hm."

He couldn't kiss her like another human could, but she didn't let that stop them. He pressed his closed mouth to her lips as softly as he could, only to have her push back firmly. Her hand traveled up his chest to his shoulder to the back of his head, pulling him close.

Acting with more bravado than he felt, he moved his own hands to her waist. His thumbs massaged little circles over her shirt. The skin there was probably soft, too. He definitely wanted to find out.

She took a step back toward the bed as a subtle hint. He took it, scooping her up in his arms and descending the short flight of steps as while Shepard giggled, actually giggled.

When they got to their clothes, he realized there were some gaps in his knowledge.

"I don't remember reading about this," he said.

He had a talon hooked around the strap of her bra. Shepard was straddling his thighs, peppering kisses on the side of his neck. It tickled but he would never under any circumstances ask her to stop.

"No articles on the extranet for this one, huh?"  

"Couldn't find any. Not a lot of money in human-turian sex diagrams, apparently."

He could feel a gentle rush of air over his neck that came in time with her laughter.

"Allow me to assist," she said.

Shepard reached behind her back both of her hands. The fabric stay put over her breasts but Garrus could see tension release from the material. It was one small pull from falling away completely.

He slipped his fingers under both of the straps and looked at her for permission. He found her eyes dark, and strangely somber. He was about to ask if she was alright when she pushed him on his back and rested her hands on either side of his head.

Her short red hair framed her face as she hovered over him, the ends just barely brushing his cheek.

"You are my best friend," she said, hushed."My anxious, over-thinking, cocky, wise cracking best friend, and I need you. You aren't allowed to die, got it?"  

Her cool fingertips touched the sides of his face. She let her forehead rest against his again, humming softly to mimic the sub-vocals she couldn't hear, but knew existed. Her eyes were shut tight, and he wondered if she was holding back tears.

He was.

She said she needed him. No matter what happened between them that night, she needed him. He'd been so scared of ruining it, but Shepard would in no way end their friendship over bad sex. He was too important to her for that. There was no way he could screw them up. The knowledge of it nearly knocked with wind out of him.

The affection, the devotion, the loyalty; it was all mutual.

She loved him, in what capacity and to what extent, he didn't know. But she loved him in some way, and that was all that mattered. It was all he ever hoped for, since a few lifetimes ago.

"Scared I'll one-up you?" he said, voice shakier than he intended."Because when _I_ come back, there's going to be a parade."

Shepard let out noise that couldn't decided if it was a laugh or a sob, but she smiled.

"Parades are so gaudy, Garrus."

"It'll be a tasteful parade."

"No such thing."

"My dear, sweet Shepard," he crooned."You lack imagination."

Shepard straightened her back, staring down at him over her cheekbones. Her smile began to widen. Her eyes were misty, it made is heart lurch, but she looked confident. At ease, even.

She tossed her bra over the side of the bed, not caring where it landed. His hands crept up her thighs slowly, and then rested on her waist. It was just as soft as the rest of her.

"Skip the parade, come straight to me," she said."I'll be waiting."

Garrus smiled as propped himself up to kiss her forehead.

"How could I stay away?"

He circled his arms around her and flipped her on her back. She wiggled excitedly beneath him, grinning. Her green eyes sparkled, her skin was flushed. She was beautiful to him, and one day he'd tell her all he felt for her. She deserved to know the adoration she inspired in him, his own fear of rejection simply wasn't part of the equation.

And there was no way in hell he wasn't coming back if she was waiting.

"Shepard."

"Garrus."

They both had waited long enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Replaying Mass Effect 2 has ruined me. I am Shakarian trash. This is probably the closest I'll ever get to writing a legit sex scene because I get embarrassed. 
> 
> If you comment, know that I will do a little dance of joy.


End file.
